The scarlet sage are starting to flower. There are also a bunch of bundleflowers. I can't really identify much else right now, but this I know: the seeds did not take equally well to all parts of the rain garden. The places that are doing better are higher and sunnier. The low-lying areas and shady areas are very sparse. It's hard to tell which variable has the greater effect, but I think this will be a much longer term project than I had thought. It's going to take a while to figure out what will do well.

At the Hilltop Arboretum PlantFest, I bought two tulip trees and one American hornbeam for the front yard. For the back, I bought a maypop, inland seaoats, and a buttonbush. I only planted the three trees today since I already had places for them. The others, I'm not sure where they'll go yet. I'll probably put the maypop up against the fence somewhere. The other two will be in the rain garden.

Another storm, more proof that it's a rain garden I built. I've started listing plants that would do well in all that water but still be ok when it's dry. My list has goldenrod, lyreleaf sage*, inland seaoats, buttonbush*, spiderwort, American beautyberry*, and Turk's cap. Depending on the price and availability, I might buy the ones with asterisks from the Hilltop Arboretum PlantFest on Saturday. Or I may just go with seeds and buy only trees (for my front yard plan).